Cells change identity in promising breakthrough
NEW YORK (AP) -- Talk about an extreme makeover: Scientists have transformed one type of cell into another in living mice, a big step toward the goal of growing replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases....

In NYC, new HIV infections 3 times national rate
NEW YORK (AP) -- New data show New York City residents are contracting the virus that causes AIDS at three times the national rate....

Police: Disabled Palestinian siblings hidden away
BEIT AWWA, West Bank (AP) -- A Palestinian couple locked their disabled son and daughter away for decades out of fear they would ruin the marriage prospects of a healthy child if discovered, police said Wednesday....

FDA OKs blood test for heart transplant rejection
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government regulators on Wednesday cleared the way for broader use of a blood test that can spare heart transplant patients the ordeal of repeated biopsies to check if their bodies are rejecting the new organ....

Study outcome won't sway company on eye drug
WASHINGTON (AP) -- What does a company do when there's anecdotal evidence that two of its drugs are equally effective in treating a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, one costing patients $60 per treatment and the other $2,000?...

New attack ad on TV, but this one targets hot dogs
CHICAGO (AP) -- A new TV commercial shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria and one little boy's haunting lament: "I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer."...

Number of uninsured drops; poverty holds steady
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people without health insurance fell by more than 1 million in 2007, the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Incomes edged up for the middle class while poverty held steady....

Study links preterm births, simmering infections
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Infections may play a bigger role in premature birth than doctors have thought, says a new study that found almost one in seven women in preterm labor harbored bacteria or fungi in their amniotic fluid....

How to clear confusion from food allergy warnings
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's one of the biggest frustrations of life with food allergies: That hodgepodge of warnings that a food might accidentally contain the wrong ingredient....

Audits of Medicare drug plans lacking
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly three years into the Medicare drug benefit, federal officials have yet to ensure that private drug plans enacted programs to deter fraud and abuse, government investigators say....